Beef Steak Fungi

It's been a mad year for fungi.  It took a while to get going here in highland Perthshire after the warm, dry summer but when it came it really came!!!!

We had a bumper year for some great mushrooms like Pine Ceps, Hen of the Woods and at our oak wood site we were almost tripping over Beef Steak fungi.  This weird looking bracket, usually growing on oak trees looks an awful lot like a giant tongue and if you cut it open it reveals a marbling texture just like red meat.  It even bleeds a red liquid, adding to its meaty notes!

I'd eaten it many years ago, so long ago in fact that I can't even remember what I did with it.  I must have been underwhelmed.  So this year I got back on the horse and asked Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods.  'Make jerky' he said.... 'or it makes a half decent port'.  Well the port is brewing, and I have to say I'm not yet convinced... but the jerky... WOW!

My 'wing-it' style recipe was as follows:  Cut the fungi into thickish strips.  Submerge in a classic biltong mix of coriander seeds, garlic, tomato sauce, malt vinegar, black pepper and leave for 3 hrs.  Place in the dehydrator until the desired dryness is achieved - to my taste, until it still had flex and is not brittle. 

So good was this 'jerky' that my 8 and 5 year old kids ate the entire lot in one sitting.  So much in fact, that I started ask myself what the safe consumable limit might be!  Anyway, no ill effects and definately one for next year.  Thanks Mark!

*Beefsteak fungi can be eaten raw, but with all wild fungi, it's best to try a small amount first to see if it agrees with you.  And perhaps preventing feral children from consuming too much may also be advised.